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Freshman Studio: A Journey Unlike Any Other

Freshman architecture studio is always abuzz with activity. Here, first-year architecture students prepare for a pinup and critique session in spring 2014.

By Madelyn McClellan (MArch '15)

Freshman studio is a rite of passage for the aspiring architect
and, for most students, a metamorphosis of sorts. Over the course
of a year of intensive, hands-on study, the student evolves from
someone who looks at buildings to a designer who thinks through
making, able to create spaces and experiences.

On this page:

While long hours and hard work are the conventional wisdom of
studio, those who have been through it remember most the
camaraderie among studio-mates, the value of trying and trying
again (and sometimes failing), and the endless possibilities that
arise when students and faculty work together to solve design
challenges.

Read on for a first-hand look at freshman studio through the
eyes of Julia Hunt, a member of the Class of 2017, and the team of
faculty members and teaching assistants who guided her on that
journey. As a teaching assistant for Julia and a former freshman
architecture student myself, I am honored to tell this story.

First Semester: A New Way of Thinking and Working

The studio space is an empty slate that students make their own. Drawings, models and books quickly overrun the space. Here students draw, build, create, redraw, rebuild, and recreate.

Studio is a “class” in which architecture is
explored physically through the development of a series of design
proposals (models and drawings) and discussions about the work
produced. The culture of studio promotes an adventurous and
explorative approach to understanding spatial possibilities and
relies upon active dialogue among students and faculty. It is in
this energized atmosphere that students are introduced to the
design decisions and thought processes that will follow them
throughout their entire career.

The Class of 2017's first semester of freshman studio would
introduce the five fundamentals of architecture: space, order,
tectonics, site and use, layered and reinforced through a series of
design projects. The work culminated with a final assignment - the
transformation of a rectangular space (16' wide by 26' long by 10'
tall) into a space of repose with special consideration to the
occupant's outward view, indirect lighting and the space's entry
and exit.

Those students expecting to jump right in and design a building
were instead forced to reorient their thinking about architecture
and design and consider space from the inside out. In fact, the
project was designed precisely to rattle these preconceived notions
and abstract the process into something explorative.

"Students tend to look at architecture, rather than into it,
through it, or from it," says Korydon Smith, associate professor of
architecture and faculty lead for the Class of 2017's first
semester of studio. He notes that much of their exposure to
architecture at this point comes from the popular press, magazines
or blogs, which tend to portray architecture as form and material.
"A crucial part to a student’s first year is helping
them see architecture from the inside-out, realizing that
architects make spaces not buildings."

Rattling preconceived notions

"A crucial part to a student’s first year is helping
them see architecture from the inside-out, realizing that
architects make spaces not buildings."

As a teaching assistant, I had the opportunity to nudge students
along in this process. Often it was as simple as encouraging them
to pick up their models, peer into them and describe the space
verbally. Gradually, students began to conceptualize their space in
qualitative ways rather than simply as lines on paper.

Freshman studio also involves trial-by-fire adjustment to new
ways of working. For many students, this is their first exposure to
studio learning and its culture of experimenation, collaborative
learning and the decidedly non-linear process of design and
making.

Julia identifies with this typical freshman struggle. "The most
difficult part of first-semester studio was overcoming the
iterative process. Accepting that your first idea isn’t right
and going back once you think you’ve found a solution is
frustrating. To overcome this, it was important to me to keep track
of my thoughts in writing or drawing form, constantly."

Students dive head first into building and making at the School of Architecture and Planning. Here freshman architecture students work with concrete and wooden formwork.

Students at the School of Architecture and Planning begin almost
immediately to work with materials and physical modeling to advance
their design. This is partly due to their inclination as "makers"
but also because "thinking through making" is the pedagogical crux
of the School of Architecture and Planning. Dennis Maher, clinical
assistant professor of architecture and lead faculty member for
freshman studio semester #2, explains:

"This school believes that learning through making gives
students a far better understanding and confidence in their work.
They learn what labor is involved in the pouring of concrete, wood
joinery, fastening different materials, and basic support systems.
This also allows students to appreciate the poetic reality of
details, through process and materiality. When they make the things
they draw, students then have to face their flaws and successes.
This then can be translated through multiple scales, preparing the
students for future situations."

This all became abundantly clear to Julia as she constructed her
first-semester final project:

"We were working with materials we’d never used before,
like wood, wire and soldering, and plaster, and it forced us to
think about the details. Additionally, transferring scales was a
critical moment for everyone. You begin to imagine what it’s
like in the space.”

Second Semester: Design as Discovery

By the second semester, the students had grown confident as
designers and makers and developed strong facility with
architecture's distinctive vocabulary. All of this would be
challenged with a new series of projects, new instructors and new
perspectives.

With Maher as the faculty lead, students would conduct a series
of material experiments focused on architectural space, form,
composition, organization, order, structure, hierarchy and scale.
Students began with the procurement of regular artifacts –
balls, books, shoes, toys, etc. – which they then
“bundled” using tape. Cutting the bundle in half
revealed layers of interesting spaces and a scaled environment to
be interpreted by the student. Again, the students were asked to
shed their biases, in this case toward the architectural potential
of ordinary objects, and articulate the bundle as a space to be
inhabited and experienced.

"We as architects use tools, but those tools aren’t always
architectural, and it is essential that students discover new ways
to understand their environment," explains Maher. "This approach
provides a way to get lost. Design is about making
discoveries, finding unexpected solutions and taking risks that
challenge preconceptions."

By diagramming over their drawings, describing the spatial
qualities of found spaces, and observing spatial relationships, the
students transformed their found artifacts into profound
architectural compositions. As the final exercise, students
sculpted a concrete and wooden model that exemplified their
bundle's layered spatial qualities.

Adds Maher: “As architects, we need to know facts, but
design taps into our ability to accept indeterminacy, it allows
ourselves to fall, land and discover.” In the studio, he
would often take a student's model or drawing and simply turn it
upside down. A seemingly empty gesture allows the student to
reconsider space and to use unconventional experimentation as a way
to design.

'Finding unexpected solutions'

"We as architects use tools, but those tools aren’t
always architectural, and it is essential that students discover
new ways to understand their environment...Design is
about making discoveries, finding unexpected solutions and
taking risks that challenge preconceptions."

Julia describes the second-semester project as a "brain teaser."
She continues: "After diving into the project, I stumbled upon new
concepts of architecture that I had not previously considered." Her
final project also tested her making abilities, requiring her to
learn an entirely new method of pouring and forming
concrete.

Hands-on Teaching

Members of the Class of 2017, pictured with teaching assistant Madelyn McClellan (center, with glasses). Madelyn was one of seven teaching assistants supporting this freshman studio.

Often, students spend long nights and weekends fastidiously
generating ideas, exhaustively creating and recreating a physical
manifestation of their concepts, all the while adapting to a new
mode of thinking.

The School of Architecture and Planning's close-knit studio
culture and hands-on engagement with faculty smoothes the learning
curve. The teaching team typically consists of three faculty
members per semester (one lead and two assisting) and seven
teaching assistants (graduate architecture students), allowing for
one-on-one interaction even with a freshman class that can number
around 150 students.

During studio class hours, students are organized into small
groups through which they engage in group discussions and critiques
facilitated by the teaching team. Students have regular sit-downs
with teaching assistants for more detailed assessments of their
in-progress designs. In this way, students are eased into the
studio culture of critique and the "try and try again" process of
design and making.

Dennis Maher says there is a practical reason for this -
architectural firms operate in the same way. "In order to find a
design solution you have to persistently search. Students must
learn to embrace the process - there are no failures. We must
always ask, 'how can this be improved, refined, focused, and
intensified'? As instructors, we have to help them see
relationships and comparative angles among their own
work."

As a teaching assistant, I saw it as my unspoken responsibility
to get to know the students and their projects and serve as their
mentor in the studio. In this environment, students are comfortable
asking questions and participating in discussions. Even the
occasional humorous comment from a teaching assistant or faculty
member during a pinup could help break the tension and foster a
more open dialogue with the students. We also look out for the
students, bringing them coffee or telling them to take a break
after a long day. Another TA on our team was in the studio at 2 am
helping a student with a difficult concrete pour.

Julia says the teaching assistants serve as role models. "They
serve as terrific examples for the students as they are still
completing their own schooling and often are willing to share their
own work and experiences."

Teachers and mentors

"As a teaching assistant, I saw it as my unspoken
responsibility to get to know the students and their projects and
serve as their mentor in the studio."

With constant critiques, small-group discussions and the
cacophony of students building and making, studio can get noisy.

But Julia says the the buzz was energizing, and the
collaborative dynamic of studio fostered her most productive
learning. "You have to accept the atmosphere of studio. There are a
lot of people working and being noisy, but this is where you learn
the most - discussing your project with your classmates, generating
new ideas and learning how to use the vocabulary of
architecture."

Join the Conversation

See more pics and engage with faculty, students and alumni
on Facebook
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Ready to Design

Students final designs and models from their second semester of freshman studio are exhibited in Crosby Hall.

By the end of the first year, the freshman have gathered a
myriad of skills, from drawing and building at different scales to
verbally communicating architectural ideas. Over the two
semesters of studio, they were coached by peers and instructors in
the art of perceiving and creating spaces, with the ultimate
goal of debunking preconceptions and redefining what it means
to design. As one of the teaching assistants for freshman studio, I
was able to see students like Julia Hunt transition from someone
who looks at buildings to a student ready to design spaces. As
these students move through the program and into their professional
career, they will bring with them their new way of observing their
world, ready to build their own design sensibilities.

Julia's advice for first-year students

"Recognize that you are going to fail and learn from your
mistakes. Progress in a project means that you learn along the way
and keep trying to improve on your ideas. This process takes time
and energy; more often than not it takes longer than you would
expect. However, you’re not just designing something -
you’re developing a project that you will take pride in and
have a connection with."

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